R.I.P. Michael Culver, the guy Darth Vader chokes to death in Empire Strikes Back

Michael Culver has died. A veteran actor of both stage and screen, Culver had more than 100 film and television credits to his name, and an incredibly robust theatrical resumé —but is best known to millions, basically inevitably, for less than a minute of screen time in 1980's The Empire Strikes Back, in which his character, Captain Needa, becomes the fatal recipient of one of Darth Vader’s infamous Force Chokes. (He’s the guy who gets the “Apology accepted” quip as a sort of very quick post-mortem comedy cut, not the one who gets choked out via viewscreen; Darth Vader is not a good boss.) Appearing in Shakespearean tragedies, long-running sitcoms, James Bond films, and hundreds of other projects, and with a long history as an anti-war activist in his later years, Culver worked steadily from the 1950s through the mid-2010s, with a CV that stretches far beyond a memorable bit part in one very successful film. (Although, we’ll note, he’s very believable in said bit part!) Per The New York Times, Culver died on February 27. He was 85.

Born into an acting family, Culver came up in British theater, working as a regular part of the Old Vic and in a variety of Shakespearean parts. He quickly migrated into the world of British television, where he worked relentlessly throughout the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s. (Like many upper-crust British types, he had a knack for playing both foreign villains and the bad guys in mystery plots.) A leading role in true-life spy drama Philby, Burgess And Maclean (as Maclean) got him his first taste of genuine recognition, and helped him land a small part in the sequel to one of the biggest science fiction films of all time, when casting for Empire began circa 1980 His appearance as Captain Needa in the sequel film is, essentially, textbook Imperial stooge: That blend of poshness, arrogance, and “Why me?” hangdoggedness that seems to sit on all of the Empire’s flunkies, right before the magical hand starts to squeeze—mixed with a very committed performance to the actual “getting choked” bit that still impresses more than 40 years later.

When he wasn’t getting murdered by Darth Vader, Culver continued to work, with almost no pause, in TV, film, and in the theater. Three of his biggest roles in the latter world came in the 1990s, when he appeared in an unofficial trilogy of plays at the U.K.’s Tricycle Theater, all centered on the Nuremberg trials. Among other things (and per The Guardian), Culver’s trio of appearances in the plays reportedly sparked his own political radicalization; he spent the rest of his life as a vocal opponent of his native country invading other nations—most especially the 2000s-era invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Culver is, in other words, one of those guys who worked constantly, built up a massive body of well-loved work, had his own particular interests, and whose career just happened to intersect, every so briefly, with a blockbuster phenomenon. (Not that he seemed to mind—he was a regular on the Star Wars convention circuit until the last years of his life, often showing up with several of the other older British Imperial guys.) He was far more than just “the guy Darth Vader chokes because he let the Millennium Falcon get away,” but, he was also exactly that guy, and doesn’t seem to have minded the legacy. He seems to have had a robust, full, and fascinating life, for all that most audiences only got to experience a rather grisly 60 seconds of the whole.